Search results

Cluff Geothermal announced on 26 June that the company has been given the go-ahead to set up an initial meeting to start detailed negotiations on a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Fantale geothermal development. The approval followed a meeting between Cluff and Ethiopian Electric Power in June. The Fantale geothermal licence was awarded to Cluff in July 2015. The company has carried out surface studies and plans an initial 50MW development, followed by a 100MW second phase.

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) has invited expressions of interest by 20 June from consultants for engineering, procurement and construction contract management services for the 2,200MW Koysha hydroelectric project on the Omo River. The scope of work includes engineering services for the project throughout the 63-month contract period and 12-month defect liability period, working with the client’s project office.

Speaking at the Africa Energy Forum in Copenhagen on 7-9 June, water, irrigation and electricity minister Seleshi Bekele said the winner of a tender to develop a 100MW solar photovoltaic (PV) scheme at Metehara would be announced by the end of June. Bekele said that more than 60 bids were submitted, with five shortlisted. A second tender for a 100MW solar PV facility is expected to be issued in September and developers have expressed enthusiasm for the procurement programme.

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) is inviting bids by 30 June for the design, manufacture, supply, installation and commissioning of three substations and a new transmission line in the north-west of the country. The contract will involve the extension of the 132kV line bay at the Beles Sugar Factory substation, a new 132/33/15kV Pawei substation and 132/33-kV Bullen substation, and 132kV transmission lines from the Beles Sugar Factory through Pawei to Bullen.

Ethiopian authorities say they have averted a planned armed attack on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project under construction on the Blue Nile near the Sudanese border. Deputy government spokesman Zadig Abrha told the state-owned Fana Broadcasting Corporation on 1 March that 20 members of the Benishangul Gumuz People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM) had been apprehended as they were heading for the dam site.

Operation of Ethiopia’s oldest hydropower plant was handed back to state power utility Ethiopia Electric Power in mid-December following the completion of a two-year Chinese-led rehabilitation. An official handing-over ceremony was held on 15 December in the presence of minister of finance and economic cooperation Abraham Tekeste and Chinese ambassador La Yifan. The 6.6MW Aba Samuel plant on the Akaki River in the Awash river basin near Addis Ababa was rehabilitated by PowerChina Huadong Engineering Corporation under an engineering, procurement and construction contract, with grant financing of Y95m ($14m) from the government of China, according to a statement by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation.

Ethiopia on 16 December formally inaugurated the 1,870MW Gibe III hydro-electric plant on the Oromo River. The 234-metre dam, Africa’s tallest, was built by Italy’s Salini Impregilo, which signed a contract for the project in 2006, but construction was delayed by problems securing funding, until Industrial and Commercial Bank of China stepped in to provide 60% of the €1.5bn ($1.56bn) cost, while the balance was covered by the Ethiopian government. Electrical and electromechanical equipment was provided by Dongfang Electric Corporation. The first turbines started generation in October 2015.

Prime Minister Hailemarian Desalegn has named Sileshi Bekele as new minister of water, irrigation and electricity. An ethnic Oromo with a background in hydraulics, he had recently been working with the Ethiopian embassy in New York in rallying diaspora Ethiopians to mobilise support for science and maths education in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian News Agency said. He was previously a lecturer and dean at Arba Minch Water Technology Institute, and worked for several international water resources organisations. Motuma Mekassa, the previous minister, has moved to the Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Resources.

Ethiopia has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on infrastructure projects and business premises as part of a six-month state of emergency imposed on 8 October. According to a government decree dated 15 October, only authorised employees of factories and business entities are allowed to access them between 6pm and 6am, and security officials have been mandated to take action on anyone violating the curfew. Diplomats may not travel beyond a 40km radius of Addis Ababa without official permission “for their own safety”, and demonstrations and political gatherings are banned, as are sharing information via social media and watching diaspora TV channels ESAT and OMN “or other similar terrorist-linked media”.

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) has signed up Tanzania as the fourth regional client for its power exports, after Kenya, Djibouti and Sudan. EEP announced on 27 August that Tanzania had agreed to buy 400MW of power. Chief executive Azeb Asnake said the agreement would “foster economic integration and strengthen multilateral ties between the two countries”. Ethiopia has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Burundi and Rwanda, and plans to link its grid with South Sudan, Uganda and Yemen, she added.

In another twist in the long-running saga of the 6GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) and controversy over water use in the Nile Basin, there are reports from Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia over the issue. Israeli online news site Mida reported on 19 July that a decision on Israeli involvement followed a flurry of recent diplomatic activity, including a visit to Tel Aviv by Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shukri, which came soon after Netanyahu returned from a tour of Africa. The previous negotiator was former Palestinian Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) on 15 July announced the approval of a $105m loan for a project to extend access to power to industry and small businesses in the Tigray and Afar regions. The funds will go towards the Mekele-Dallol and Semera-Afdera Power Transmission Supply for Industrial Development and Access Scale-up Project, along with $18m from the Ethiopian government. Ethiopia is targeting a national access rate of 90% by 2020 and received a $200m loan from the World Bank for the Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion Project in May.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 8 June announced that Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) had agreed to pay nearly $6.5m to settle charges that it violated US securities laws by failing to register bonds sold to Ethiopians in the US to fund construction of the 6GW Grand Renaissance Dam.The SEC said EEP had held a series of public roadshows in major cities across the US and marketed the bonds on the website of the Ethiopian embassy as well as through radio and television advertising aimed at Ethiopians living in the US.

The World Bank on 27 May approved an additional $200m loan for the Electricity Network Reinforcement and Expansion Project (Enrep). The package includes a $5m grant from the Energy Small and Medium Enterprises Trust Fund while the Ethiopian government will provide $43m. Two carbon finance initiatives worth $21m have also been approved under the Carbon Initiative for Development to support off-grid renewable energy products. The project will focus on strengthening and expanding the grid as well as increasing the number of customers in connected areas. Efforts will also be made to develop the market for solar products and to provide technical assistance to state utilities.

On 24 May, Italy’s Salini Impregilo announced that it had signed a €2.5bn contract with Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) to build the 2,200MW Koysha dam on the Omo River. The project comprises a 170-metre-high roller-compacted concrete dam with a reservoir volume of 6bcm. It is expected to produce 6,460GWh/yr electricity. The project is expected to be financed by Italian banks and underwritten by Italy’s Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero (Sace). Ethiopian newspaper The Reporter noted in April that Sace had agreed €1.5bn of export credit financing.